Breech Face Damage

[Hobart]

Has anyone noticed damage from the firing pin on the breech face of your AR7? Over time, dry firing will cause a dent. But on my rifle, it seems excessive. Henry replaced my first barrel when it started having misfires due to the dent. I’ve been really careful not to dry fire with the new barrel, but yesterday I did accidentally have one dry fire. That one occurrence has already resulted in a light firing pin dent in the breech face.
Are these rifles really that fragile, or does my rifle have a problem?

[Mistered]

That seems more fragile than it should be.

While .22s are NOT supposed to be dry fired I have known of many that have been without any apparent damage or denting the breechface.

I just examined the breechfaces on my 'vintage' Mod 152 Mossberg and Marlin 39A and there are no dents on either - and I garandamteeya they have both been dry fired - a lot.

I'm thinking the firing pin might be a bit too long and could probably be shortened a thou or two to clear the breechface yet still strike the cartridge rim enough to fire.

[Hobart]

I’ve considered that possibility. Every video online and on the Henry web site shows people dry firing after the last round, so it shouldn’t do that much damage. I’m going to email customer service and see what they have to say about it. Thanks.

[JEBar]

I’m going to email customer service and see what they have to say about it. Thanks.

looking forward to hearing what they have to say

[Mistered]

Before contacting Henry take your FP out and measure it and ask to talk to someone in 'tech support' (if they have this) and have them measure a new, stock FP. If the same length try to get a positive answer as to what they plan to do to resolve this as simply replacing the FP is not going to correct it.

[Hobart]

Well, Henry wants me to return the gun so they can check it out. Should get a return label soon. Kind of a pain. Hope they figure out what’s wrong.

[JEBar]

sounds like it may not be a problem they don't see too often .... bottom line, they stand behind their rifles and will take care of the problem .... looking forward to hearing what they tell you about it

[Mags]

.
They will. They are very good at it.

Well, Henry wants me to return the gun so they can check it out. Should get a return label soon. Kind of a pain. Hope they figure out what’s wrong.

[Hobart]

Here’s the breech face damage after one dry fire. Firing pin dent visible at the 12 o’clock position.
Still waiting for a shipping label from Henry.

681AD93E-0F08-4E89-9EEA-C2EF795F8A6E.jpeg (132.11 KiB) Viewed 3106 times

[Mistered]

Firing pin dent visible at the 12 o’clock position.

The FP dent appears to be 'canted' off a few degrees - Is the FP at an angle in the bolt?
Also what is the 'smile' at the bottom? Is this considered the barrel 'ramp' ?
I think there are a few issues going on here.

[Hobart]

The smile is there so the round will feed smoothly and not hang up on the edge of the chamber. At least that’s what I’ve been told. Can’t really check the angle of the firing pin because I have the rifle packed up for return.

[Mistered]

The smile is there so the round will feed smoothly

Ok, this is the 'ramp' then - kind of what I figured.
The FP dent appears to be off center and canted like I said but this could be very normal and due to how it is positioned in the bolt.

[Hobart]

Got the return label. I’ll be sending it off tomorrow. I’m anxious to get this straightened out. Only a few more dry fires, which are bound to happen, would make this barrel as useless as the first one.
I’ll let you know how things turn out.

[Mistered]

The misfires are still the puzzling part.
It seems if the FP is long enough to dent the bolt face it will positively strike the rim of the round.
Did you try to re-fire the misfires? Don't forget - .22 ammo can be fickle at times. One brick will be msifire free and another will have many.
Was there a pattern with your misfires?

[Hobart]

It was CCI mini mag ammo. Good stuff. The misfires were sporadic at first, but got worse over time.
I’ve never had a misfire with CCI mini mags in any of my other .22s.
The dent will eventually get deeper. When that happens, instead of hitting and compressing the cartridge rim, it actually bends it. Sometimes it fires, sometimes it doesn’t.

[JEBar]

interesting, looking forward to hearing what Henry has to say about it

[BigAl52]

A while back a thread was active about the concern of dry firing of the rimfires. It happens when one is shooting his or hers at the range where we dont bother to count how many shots we have taken like most all of us dont do. CT posted a comment about what he does and I thought it was a great idea. The last time out I stole CT_Shooters idea and it works great. Keep some 22 shorts in the shooting box and load one on top of the last round. When it goes off you know you are done. Great idea from CT I think.

[Hobart]

Just got a call from Henry. They’re replacing my AR7. Said there was a crack in the receiver. I sure didn’t notice it. They didn’t say what exactly was causing the breech damage. Maybe had something to do with the crack or maybe the bolt or firing pin was out of spec. I think once they decided to replace the gun, they probably lost interest in further investigation. Anyway, I’m happy.

[JEBar]

Just got a call from Henry. ---- Anyway, I’m happy.

OUTSTANDING .... that's what matters

[Mistered]

Said there was a crack in the receiver.

That will no doubt do it. Slight flexing from the crack causing a light FP strike.

It would be interesting to know where the crack was specifically.

Did they elaborate or just mention a crack with no further information?